


Planeswalker

by TheBeastofBurton



Category: Astoria: Fate's Kiss, Love & Legends (Visual Novel)
Genre: Adventure, Crossover, Established Relationship, F/F, Interdimensional Nonsense, Romance, guess who immediately wanted more once the series ended, it me, like an impatient 6 year old, post-season 9
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-07-25 20:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20032186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBeastofBurton/pseuds/TheBeastofBurton
Summary: Years have passed in peace, the just reward of the bearers of the magic that changed a world and the kindness that turned it towards the light.  But the path of destiny is long and winding, and such power shines brightly in far away worlds lost to darkness.





	1. Chapter 1

The last box gets hefted onto the counter with a grunt, and I half-drape myself over it with a dramatic sigh. “Delivery day is the worst. I swear, they’ve gotta be putting rocks in these or something. Coffee and tea should not be this heavy!”

“Your trials are as arduous as they are varied, my love,” Helena says without looking up from the article she’s reading on her phone as the seal on the box zips open of its own accord, the contents floating over to their designated places throughout the store. I huff at the indignation of it all, but can’t keep a smile off my face despite my best efforts.

“Well, I only make coffee for _nice_ people,” I return, bringing over a mug of her favorite that I’d left to cool on the counter. “So I don’t know what I’m gonna do with this perfectly steeped cup of Blue Mountain.” She glances up with a raised eyebrow when I sit down across the table from her.

“I am always nice.” Her irises darken by a shade and I feel a gathering of sparks along the small of my back, a crackling warmth that sinks easily into the sore muscles. “But if my efforts are proving unsatisfactory…” An errant spark ghosts up my spine, the wisp of pressure setting the skin of my back alight with sensation. I couldn’t have stopped the noise that escapes my mouth if I tried.

“I shall take that as a no,” she concludes with a satisfied grin, laying down her phone and wrapping both hands around the mug. “Thank you.”

“You’re just lucky you’re cute,” I manage to say through a lingering shudder. Helena winks at me over the rim of her mug as she takes a long sip, sighing contentedly before putting it back on the table and picking up her phone once more. “Reading anything good?”

“An older paper from Dr. Linden. I encountered a complication in the Sinclair design that I feel like I have read about before, but could not place.” The name makes me start.

“Oh! Did I give you the beans for her? I can’t remember if I brought them home or not last night and now you’re all packed and-” Helena places a warm hand over my own before I can get up and check.

“They are already in my bag,” she assures, nodding down at the suitcase on the floor beside the table, before easily preempting my entire list of frantic last minute worries. “I have all the necessary paperwork for my hotel reservation, the external harddrive with my presentation, and ensured that the electricity bill was paid for the apartment and the store.” Her hand wraps more tightly around mine, tugging gently until I stand and guiding me over to sit beside her. "What can I do to ease your mind?”

I sigh, taking her hand in both my own and toying with her fingers. “Nothing, I think. I know it’s no big deal; you’re super prepared for the conference and you’ll know where to portal into and you’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. It’s just...it’s coming up on the anniversary of Getting Zapped Into Another Dimension Day and it always makes me a little jittery.” I shake my head, as if the motion will dispel the anxiety. 

“It’s silly. It’s been three years, really like four and some change adding in all the time we’ve spent on the other side.”

Helena frowns slightly, bringing her free hand up to cup my cheek. “It is not foolish in the slightest. A great many things changed that day, and in a manner of unexpected violence. Such shifts can leave marks upon the mind for many years. Even if the end result was not entirely unfavorable.”

I snort and the casual tone of her voice, leaning over to kiss the barely hidden smirk off her face. She leans into the contact, deepening it by measures until I find myself straddling her lap and well and truly turned on.

“You have to leave in five minutes,” I groan reluctantly when she tips my head back to drag her mouth down my neck. I feel the edge of her teeth against my skin, but her wandering hands begin to slow.

“I could just be late,” she offers, her voice a low rumble of desire and frustration. I get out a breathless laugh and push back gently against her shoulders. She withdraws without protest, even if the heated look I get when our eyes meet again makes me regret stopping her.

“Helena ‘Five Minutes Early is Ten Minutes Late’ Klein? I think not.” I slide off her lap and reach over to hand the coffee cup back to her. “Finish that up, gorgeous. I’ve gotta go get the locks.” I can feel her eyes on me as I walk away, and I wonder if being so desired will ever stop being a rush.

I swing by the back door first, even though no one's due to be on shift for another fifteen minutes or so. They’re all good kids, but god knows I wouldn’t show up early to be on my feet for eight hours if I didn’t own the place. By the time I’ve got the front door unlocked and the sign turned on, Helena’s finished her coffee and gathered herself to leave. She smiles down at me when I wander over and start to fidget with her already immaculate suit jacket. 

“I will miss you, beloved. Even one night spent away from you is one too many.”

“I’ll miss you, too. I’m gonna sleep like crap tonight.” She looks apologetic, and I quickly shake my head. “Don’t even start; I know how important this conference is. You’re gonna blow them all away, as per usual, and then have a great time hanging out with all your West Coast pals. Alan texted me last night that he’s so excited his filming schedule had a long enough break for him to come see your talk.” Helena goes a little pink with the praise, tilting her head down to press her lips to mine.

“I love you,” she says simply. Her hands linger in my hair for a moment longer, warmth and gentle pressure curled around the back of my head before she steps back with a sigh. 

“Love you, too. Kick ass and take names, alright?”

She laughs softly and nods, turning to collect her bag and head towards the storeroom. Even out of sight, I can feel the magic from the portal opening in the hairs on the back of my neck. When it closes again behind her there’s nothing left but the muted sound of street traffic through the windows. I stand alone in it for a few minutes before I hear the back door open, a pair of my younger baristas arguing loudly over the twist in some supernatural show they’ve been trying to get me to watch for months. I put on my best boss smile and head back to meet them.

***

The day passes like any other, split between running the shop and helping out with the various community groups that come through. It’s chess club night, and I end up staying open even later than usual to receive a drawn out thrashing from a seven year old prodigy who lives in the next building over. By the time I manage to shoo everyone out with celebratory hot chocolate, I’m dead on my feet.

It only takes a few minutes to get home, but I spend the whole walk fantasizing about curling up on the couch. The apartment is dark and quiet when I unlock the door. Even though I knew it would be, loneliness twinges in my chest. I pull out my phone as I make my way over to the fridge, scrolling past a day’s worth of texts and pictures from the conference with a smile. When I tug open the door to scout for something to pick at, I find my favorite cold dinner and a pitcher of iced tea on the middle shelf.

I stare at it for a few seconds wondering how I got so lucky and snap a picture before pulling everything out and fixing myself a plate. I send it to Helena with a message once I’m settled on the couch.

_you are my favorite person on the planet <3_

I see her typing a reply almost immediately, and it arrives in the second I glance away to turn on the TV.

_As you are mine. Eat well and rest._

_got plans for me when you get home? ;p_

_I have some thoughts._

_I could call you in an hour when this lecture is complete to discuss them._

God, it's just cheating that I can hear the words in her voice. I don't mean to be so eager as to forget the space, but the text is gone before I can catch it. 

_yesplease_

_Finish your supper and wait for me in bed._

_I have been thinking extensively._

I sputter into my glass at the message, flush crawling its way up my neck. Maybe I should find something other than my ratty old gym shorts to sleep in tonight. 

I pass the time drifting between idle fantasy and active anticipation, tossing the dishes in the sink when I finish dinner before wandering over to the dresser. Picking out something to wear isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I lay it out on the bed with a grin as I head to the bathroom to run a brush through my hair. I’m just through brushing my teeth and deep in a daydream when I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

It’s magic, and in less than a second I can tell it’s not right.

I look up at the mirror just in time to see it crack down the middle as a thunderous tearing sound explodes in the living room. I wrench the door open, yelping when crackling red energy spits and pops around my feet. A figure stumbles out of a broken portal just before it closes, collapsing in a heap on the floor.

“Ancestors' Grace, that was the worst one yet,” they say as they push themselves up to sitting with a haggard sounding cough. All the lamps in the apartment have been blown out by their entrance, but the narrow band of light from the bathroom makes them squint when they look up at me. I cover my mouth with both hands to hold in a gasp.

It’s not Helena, but they could be sisters.


	2. Chapter 2

“Rea?” the woman asks with disbelief in her voice. “How in the nine hells are you here?” She groans, scrubbing her hands over her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be off plundering some other poor, unsuspecting plane for 'resources they neither know to need or deserve to have'?"

So much has happened in the last thirty seconds that I don't even know where to start. "I'm not, I, uh, I mean--" Great, McClellen. Super eloquent.

She stumbles to standing, and I can see every painful similarity to the woman I love. Just as tall, white-blonde hair hanging down her back in a thick braid, dark blue eyes narrowing to focus in the sharp swathe of light. But she's leaner, her face gaunt to the point of looking malnourished. Her skin is deeply tanned, red and peeling in some places. Her bare arms are covered in intricate tattoos.

"You're not her, are you?" she says curiously. Her accent is different, too; closer to British than anything. She takes a few steps over, tilting her head to look at me. "Let me take a closer look at you."

"Absolutely not," I get out in a snap, anger finally burning through the shock. "You just blew up my living room and totally broke all the wards Helena put up somehow; she’s going to be here any frigging second."

"Who?" the woman asks, before her eyes widen. "Wait, wards?"

She jerks stiff as the words leave her mouth, legs collapsing into spasm before she crashes to the floor. Helena is standing behind her, eyes black as pitch, electricity still sparking blue across her hand.

I don't even have time to call out before she's back at my side, moving her body between me and our uninvited guest. "Are you well, my love?" she asks, pulling me behind her with one arm, eyes never leaving the crumpled body now groaning on the floor.

"Fine, babe. Super alarmed by all of this, but I'm fine." I run a soothing hand up and down her back as I step out of the loose hold and back beside her. It's been years since we've had to fight, but damned if I'm gonna let her do it alone.

"Was that entirely necessary?" Not-Helena asks miserably, pushing off the floor with shaking arms to get back to some kind of sitting. "I obviously don't mean any harm."

"Is it obvious? Really? You just  _ blew up our apartment _ ! How could we possibly--"

"You're clearly already familiar with the concept of the multiverse and extra-dimensional travel, as my research very strongly indicated there are no analogous channelling magicks on 34G-Bh that could have disrupted my transporter in such a...manner…" She slows down her smarmy rant when she sees magic sparking in Helena's hands again.

"If you interrupt my wife again, I will make sure you regret it." Her words are calm and measured, but I can feel the anger radiating off of her, see it in the iron line of her shoulders.

"Sweetheart, I don't think she's gonna hurt us." I cover one of her hands with mine, smoothing my thumb over the back of her wrist as the sparks crackle harmlessly over my skin. "She's got some attitude, sure, but I really think we all just need to sit down and figure out what the hell is going on."

"Quite." The woman is staring openly at Helena now, wary and almost awestruck. "I've...I've never seen another me before. Nor another Rea. What are you called?"

Helena stares back at the woman, magic flaring again as the anger bleeds into fear. I squeeze her hand and move myself between them.

"I'm Andy, this is Helena, and you owe us some answers after that entrance. Who are you, where are you from, and why are you here?"

The woman laughs breathlessly. "Gods, You're just like her. Not a bone in your body to tolerate nonsense." I feel Helena tense even further behind me when the stranger gets herself to standing with a grunt.

"Jelena Karlisle, at your service. The land I am from hasn't a name any longer, and I am trying to find refuge for the few hundred of us who remain."

I stare at her, dumbfounded.

"How many planes have you traversed?" Helena asks, Jelena's eyes flicking back to her.

"This is the eighth. You?"

"This one and my own."

"I knew that magic couldn't be from here. Glad at least something in my research was correct. To be quite honest, it indicated this plane was still in its pre-ancient period and likely to be uninhabited." She looks around the living room, turning slightly to glance at the city lights outside the windows before looking back to Helena. It's unnerving to see an expression I know so well on her face, that exhilaration at finding something new to explore.

"I have so many questions for you."

A screeching noise goes off before she can say anything more, like a horrible overcharged klaxon playing in reverse. "Oh, damn it all! That entry must have set off the recall timer." Jelena looks between the two of us frantically. "Look, this is going to take at least a week on my side to fix, maybe more, and I've no idea what kind of time dilation we're dealing with yet. I will return as soon as I'm able, and I swear I will tell you everything I can then, but you must know that my people are in desperate need of help."

She fumbles for something in a pouch on her belt and I can see the source of the awful noise as some device strapped around her leg, now flashing a red light. "Take this," she says, tossing something in my direction that I catch on instinct. It looks like some kind of coin, dull and weighty for its size. "It will allow me to locate this place more precisely. If you've any equivalent to scrying, it makes a fine focus, should you wish to verify my story."

Red magic starts to crackle outwards from Jelena's device, arcing all over her body in looping curves. She meets Helena's eyes over my shoulder with a helpless half-smile. "’Til next time, then."

There's a  _ snap _ as reality tears open around her, much less violently than her entrance, and in the blink of an eye she's gone.

***

Helena is insistent that I come back to California with her for the night, and I can't find the will to argue. Going through the portal is as right and familiar as breathing, but my mind is still in Chicago with everything that just happened. Helena sits me down on the edge of the hotel bed, pressing a kiss to my hair before stepping away and pulling out her phone. She makes a series of calls; excuses for the dinner she had planned to have with colleagues, coverage for opening the shop tomorrow from my assistant manager, a smooth lie and genuine apology to our downstairs neighbors. When she finishes she sits down beside me, tense and quiet.

I lean against her shoulder, threading my arms around her waist when she curls one of hers around my shoulders. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Have a life that would be a great deal simpler, I suspect," she replies darkly. When I look up, her eyes are locked on the wall opposite us. It's been a long time since I've seen that look on her face, that careful blank expression I know is hiding a million terrible thoughts roiling in her mind.

"Or," I offer, turning my face to brush my nose against the line of her jaw, "it would be just as complicated, but I wouldn't have an incredible partner to deal with it with." She closes her eyes and breathes out slowly, grip tightening around my shoulders. "I mean, we can’t really deny that I seem to be attracting this kind of thing at this point."

Helena's voice is quiet and serious. "Our peace was meant to be won. We have struggled for it,  _ suffered  _ for it."

"We have," I agree. "But maybe that's why this is happening. We won our fight. Maybe we can help someone else win theirs."

Helena lets out a soft breath that could almost be called a laugh. "I suppose I have been monopolizing the kindness that brought low the greatest evil in an age."

"I don't know about that. I remember the most powerful mage that was ever born doing most of the heavy lifting."

"She could not have done so without you, liebe meines lebens." She presses another kiss to the top of my head, taking several slow, deep breaths. Centering herself against the voices. She's made so much progress these last years, and I'm so proud of her.

"You believe her story then?" she asks eventually.

I reach into my pocket for the coin Jelena tossed me, examining it in the light for the first time. "I mean, all of this is too ridiculous not to be true, isn't it?" It looks kind of like brass, with some dense grey metal banded around the outside. There may have been a design etched into it at some point in its life, but it's been worn away by time. One side shines a little brighter than the other, as if it had been rubbed frequently. I pass it over to Helena with a little smile.

"And maybe I want to believe that every version of you is a big damn hero."

Helena examines the coin with a faint smile of her own, flipping it dexterously between the fingers of one hand while stroking my shoulder with the other. With the adrenaline starting to drain out of my body, the combination is hypnotic enough to make me start feeling drowsy.

"I have never scryed into another plane before," Helena says, watching the coin’s progress through her fingers. "Before the final battle, I would have said it was impossible. The resources needed to cast a spell of the magnitude were beyond anything I could comprehend."

“And now?” I say through a yawn. She doesn’t respond right away, slipping the coin back into my hands before reaching into a pocket in the lining of her suit jacket. She pulls out a slim wallet she’s taken to keeping business cards in, thumbing through the collection with one hand until she reaches a crisp, white card with a gold and purple peacock printed on the back that I haven’t seen or thought about since our honeymoon.

“Now I think we should compare notes with someone.”


	3. Chapter 3

"It's a hotel?"

I glance up at the sign to make sure I'm definitely, totally reading it right, and sure enough it still says 'Grand Olympian Hotel'. The only people I see going in and out of it are all wearing black suits and dark sunglasses, which isn't suspicious at all. I know New York is a weird place, but it’s almost more unnerving that no one passing by on the busy street seems to pay the building even a passing glance.

Helena’s staring intently up line of the skyscraper, and not with her usual ‘sketching out the blueprints’ look. “There is an open portal in this building. Or something like it. And the entire block has some manner of deflection spell over it.”

“Well, that’s...weird, it’s just weird, right?” That’s a lot going on in one place for a world I was pretty confident didn’t have any magic. Helena nods.

“Very, but a likely indicator we are in the right place.” She squeezes my hand once and sets her shoulders before leading the way through the front door. The lobby is what I’d expect a fancy Manhattan hotel to look like, lots of gilding and marble and plush red carpeting, but with the tides of appropriately attired people ebbing and flowing from the bank of elevators in the back it feels more like the atrium of an office building than anything else. There’s a pair of bored looking folks in suits checking credentials at what must once have been a concierge station, and they perk right up in alarm when we make our way over there.

“Can I help you?” the man asks, shooting a meaningful look at his partner, who is already reaching for something under the counter.

“We were hoping we could talk to Alex Cyprin?” My voice trails up a bit at the end of the sentence as I look over to Helena for confirmation. Her eyes are locked on the movement of the other guard, watching as they pull out a walkie-talkie. “We, uh...we were told we could come here a few years ago.”

“I’ve got them, guys,” says a voice behind me, which stills both guards but only lessens the combined tension by a tiny measure. When I turn around I see a woman wearing a dark blue suit and a professional looking smile. “You must be Ms. McClellan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her handshake is firm and self-assured, and she passes the smile to Helena easily.

“And you must be Ms. Klein. My name is Ariadne Miller; I’m a field agent in Cyprin’s department. I’m afraid they’re away on business today, but I’d be happy to assist you. Please, follow me.” She moves with purpose towards the elevators, and I catch Helena’s eye with a raised eyebrow as we start after her. The elevator we get into is a little much on the fanciness scale, and looks like it has way more buttons than there could be floors in this building.

“This is the portal,” Helena says to me under her breath as the doors close. Agent Miller glances over at her with a pleasantly surprised look.

“It’s not quite a portal, but that’s the closest analogue I’ve heard in a while. Very impressive.”

“It goes further than this plane, but not as far as another.” Helena looks around the area with visible excitement as we start to rise, and Miller laughs in astonishment. “Right again! Our bosses live in...well, I’ve always thought of it as a pocket dimension. Not quite here, but not far enough away that they can’t pop in to keep an eye on things.”

“Who the hell are your bosses?” I wonder out loud as the elevator stops and opens out into a pretty average looking office floor.

"You've definitely heard of them before," Miller replies with a conspiratorial wink. "But I feel like that's a story for later." She leads us back to a comfortable looking office with Alex Cyprin's name on the door, motioning over to some seats while she closes the door behind us.

"I'd rather discuss the power spike we saw in Chicago last night. It didn't line up with the signature we have on file for you, Ms. Klein, but we definitely picked it up in the same neighborhood where you live."

"She prefers to be called just Helena, if you don't mind," I interject after watching Helena's jaw tighten again at the use of her surname. Miller nods respectfully even when I press on. "And you guys really aren't with the government? Are we on some kind of watch list?"

"I assure you, H.E.R.A is an independent organization, Ms. McClellan. We have a vested interest in keeping divine, supernatural, and inter-dimensional peoples and practices out of the public eye. Our surveillance capabilities are limited, but we do keep an eye on high powered individuals for both their safety and the safety of the greater public." She turns to Helena with a smile.

"Your discretion since your arrival on this plane is very much appreciated, Helena. I've been assigned to monitor your case for a few years now, and I've seen nothing but great things. That's why I'm especially glad you decided to make the trip to New York to see us. We could really use your help figuring out what happened last night."

Helena looks a little taken aback. Her eyes flicker over in my direction, looking for something. I lift a shoulder in a half-shrug.

"It sounds like they know most of it already. And we did come here to put our heads together."

Helena nods, and tells the agent everything that's happened to us over the last twenty-four hours.

***

We end up talking for several hours. Agent Miller is sharp, taking detailed notes and asking insightful questions to better understand Helena's magic. She shares that her organization has only encountered one other person from another plane before, but that there is anecdotal evidence of others scattered throughout written history. She recommends a bookstore in Queens that has a large collection of rare and ancient books. She offers to buy us lunch and take us there.

When we come out of the subway station, I wrap a hand around Helena's and slow our pace just enough to be out of earshot.

"You doing okay, sweetheart? This has been...a lot."

She laces her fingers with mine and looks over with a half-smile. "Is it strange that I am relieved by it all, in a way? To know that there truly is magic here, if not that which I know, is almost exhilarating."

I laugh a little, bringing our joined hands up to kiss her knuckles. "You never could resist something new to learn."

"You have named it among my charms in the past."

“We’re here,” Agent Miller calls over her shoulder as she pulls to a stop in front of a nice looking little place at the end of the block. A little bell rings when she pushes open the door, letting out a rush of air that smells like leather and old paper. The interior looks kind of familiar, and I wonder if the store has a branch at home we might have been to.

A woman is sitting beside the check-out counter with an open book in her lap, and she looks up as we all pile in.

“Hello, Agent Miller,” she says with a wide smile, sliding a bookmark in to keep her place as she closes the book, pushing a lock of red hair behind her ear when she gets to her feet. Miller rolls her eyes with a smile of her own I would have called goofy on someone less serious.

“Hello yourself, Mrs. Miller.” She closes the distance in a few steps and kisses the woman gently, leaving a hand resting on the small of her back when she turns back to us. “This is my wife, Medusa. Her collection is going to have more depth than the H.E.R.A archives for references to other instances of travel between the planes.”

Hearing both names in quick succession finally slots in the last puzzle piece in my head. “Whoa, wait, what? That’s what this is? Greek mythology is  _ real _ ?”

“That, or you’ve just spent a good deal of your day interacting with a very niche cult,” Medusa replies dryly. Miller scoffs and smacks her arm lightly with the back of her hand. I glance over to Helena, already putting together a thirty second summary of an entire culture I have definitely not thought about in depth since my freshman year of college, and do a double take when I see her watching something behind the counter intently. I can’t see over it from where I’m standing, so I scooch closer and lean up on my toes to get a look.

There’s a playpen, and two little toddlers fast asleep inside it.

“Ah, I see you’ve found my secret secondary objective in coming here.” Miller circles behind the counter, smiling softly. “The two’s themselves aren’t so terrible, but when there are two of them going on at the same time I feel bad leaving their mom on her own to deal with it all day.”

"They are very beautiful," Helena says quietly, eyes tracking the movement of Miller's hand reaching down and brushing gently against each child's hair. They're definitely cute kids, but my attention is pulled back to the shop when I notice Medusa watching Helena very closely. Her face is carefully blank, but her eyes have a sharpness to them that makes me uneasy. I move myself between her and Helena, trying to make it look like I'm just casually adjusting stance. She notices right away, raising an eyebrow but giving me a strange nod of approval nonetheless.

"Ari called ahead and let me know what you're looking for,” she reaches behind herself and pulls a very expensive looking book off the top of a stack piled on display table without breaking eye contact. Faded gilding on the spine catches the light when she extends it in my direction. “I think you'll will find the marked section worth reading.”

I take the book in both hands and flip carefully to the bookmark near the middle. It looks like a collection of stories, written out by hand on paper that is now thin and yellowed with age. The marked page starts with the title of a story in elegant script.  
  
_ Parables of the Planeswalker _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the busy season at my work and I am Wiped Out by the time I get home, so my pace is likely going to start slowing a touch. I'm told August is only temporary, but I am suspicious.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy, y'all. I really enjoyed Helena's whole route, and bless them I do want them to live long, happy, uneventful lives after all the shit they've been through. But I also wanted to write them going on adventures a la The Mummy Returns and be stupidly in love while also rip-roaring through the multiverse, so here we are! I've got a bit of a backlog built up at this point, so updates hopefully weekly. Good luck to us all!


End file.
